Photos of Possible Locations

We feel this pub might work as a location for the friends meeting, although it is quite dark and we will have to be careful with lighting:

This might serve as a back drop for some of the military scenes that we don't shoot at the training ground:

 

We need an office location and this looks like a busy office but is still quite neutral.

Animatic

This animatic has enabled us to refine a script as we have seen that some of our dialogue is not very successful in context. We have amended the script accordingly. We have also been able to work out some of the sound effects we will need and we have a good idea of how long our trailer will last and the pacing of it.

Music

For the first thoughts about music we implemented a drum loop that started soft at the moment of the fade to black after the car crash and gets louder as the trailer goes on until the very last shot where the music fades at a fade to black after the body falls. The drum loop isn’t the final piece of music but it is to emulate how the final piece of music will get louder as trailer progresses.

We added sound effects found on the Internet to simulate the car crash and the gun battle at the beginning to show us what we need to have implemented into our actual trailer.

Changes to Storyboard After More Research

List of changes to Storyboard.

-          One dominating factor highlighted during the feedback of our storyboard was the fact that we didn’t have a particular ‘crunch’ moment of intense drama, shock or suspense. We changed this by adding in a moment in which the father and the son come face to face, both of them armed and threatening to shoot each other.

-          Another factor we noticed was that our trailer was running in chronological order and was almost like a short film. Obviously it is recommended to avoid this in trailers so we added in new scenes which made more dramatic moments e.g. the scenes at the training ground and shuffled some of the post-its around so the trailer still made sense but wasn’t too chronological.

-          When looking at some of our research, it was evident that in certain film trailers e.g. ‘Lincoln’, there was a good balance of conflict at war and conflict at home. This helped keep the audience enticed and didn’t result in the trailer becoming tedious. This alerted us to change our storyboard so that there was a greater balance of the two conflict types. We achieved this by adding more war conflict scenes as they were previously outnumbered by the conflict based at home.

-          Another thing we changed with our storyboard was the input of more fade to black transitions especially at the end of the trailer/animatic. This creates a more episodic feel and makes you think that you are watching scenes from across a whole film.

-          We added a further character, the girlfriend, to add more of a closer relationship/bond within the trailer (something more for Sam to cling to, some happiness) as we felt the family dynamic only was too tight and small to carry a whole film.

-          We added more conversations/on phone and in person so that some of the scenes shown make sense, as the context would be lost with out the conversations between the characters shown.

Script

Having created our animatic, we were able to see some flaws in our planned dialogue and we have created a more detailed and useful script:

Script – The Last Post

Shot one

Scott: (breathing heavily and shivering)

Shot two

Scott: (continue to breath heavily and cough heavily)

Shot three

Scott: (continue to breath heavily but breathing slows down as photo is lifted up)

Shot four

Scott: ‘PLEASE, PLEASE! NO!’ (Become silent after gun shot is heard)

Shot five

(Sounds fade out to silence as screen fades to black)

Shot six

Sam: ‘My name is Sam Mumford, thanks to my father, I have lived my life like I’m in the army, yet now I am at an age where I must make a decision. Join the army, or go against my father’s wishes.’

Shot seven

(No dialogue)

Shot eight

Alfred: ‘Well, at least one of you looks decent’

Sam: (sigh heavily)

Shot nine

(No dialogue)

Shot ten

Sam, Caroline and Alfred: WELCOME HOME!

Shot eleven

Oliver: ‘How do you think you did?’

Sam: ‘To be honest mate, I don’t know. I’m really not looking forward to this’

Shot twelve

(Cheers from friends as we see results sheet)

Shot thirteen

(No dialogue)

Shot fourteen

Oliver: ‘listen, I know your really struggling to decide on this whole army regarding the army, but I think you should come with me travelling, all around Europe. I can cover the cost’

Shot fifteen

Scott: ‘ honestly, there is no chance of covering up the fact that this war is brutal, it not easy out there.’

Sam: (sigh heavily)

Shot sixteen

(shouting and running during battle scene)

shot seventeen

Alfred: ‘I’m so proud of you son’

Shot eighteen

(no dialogue)

shot nineteen

Alfred: ‘YOUR TOO SOFT WITH HIM CAROLINE!’

Shot twenty

Sam: ‘Scott? What’s it really like?’

Scott: ‘Honestly, it terrifying’

Shot twenty one

(War cries and battle noises)

Shot twenty two

Oliver: ‘You should stand up to them Sam, Its your life.’

Shot twenty three

(no dialogue)

shot twenty four

Caroline: ‘I’m so glad you got away Sam, I just want you to be happy’

Shot twenty five

Alfred: ‘ CAROLINE! I’VE TOLD YOU NOT TO SPEAK TO HIM, HE”S DEAD TO US!’

Shot twenty six

(No dialogue)

Shot twenty seven

Scott: (sigh before he shoots)

Shot twenty eight

Sam: ‘Why don’t you leave if you hate it so much?’

Shot twenty nine

Scott: ‘You know why, father would never speak to me again’

Shot thirty

(war cries and battle noises)

shot thirty one

(no dialogue, shot of letter from girlfriend Katie)

shot thirty two

Scott: ‘I’m sorry mum, I don’t think will be home as early as I thought I would. Its getting really dangerous out here. I’m going to say goodbye, just in case. I Love you’

Shot thirty three

Army official: ‘Mrs Mumford, I am very sorry to say that your sound was injured by an IED last night. The medics tried everything they could to save him but they didn’t succeed.’

Shot thirty four

Caroline: Tthis can’t be true’

Shot thirty five

(no dialogue, just phone ringing as Caroline calls)

Shot Lists to Plan Filming Days

Here we have turned our rough shot list into a proper one which takes account of the blocks of time we have to film and tries to organise our filming by location and actor as much as possible:

Example of Letter for Teacher Cast

28^th September 2012

Dear Mr O’ Brien,

We would like to invite you to take part in our A2 practical coursework project for Media Studies on 17th October 2012. We would like to cast you in one of the main roles for the film trailer we are producing.

We have attached an outline of the film plot and some photos of our storyboard. We would like you to play the father, an ex-military man who runs his home as if he is still in the army and has a very confrontational relationship with his children and his wife. We will provide you with a script nearer the date, but as trailers are composed of short extracts rather than whole scenes, there will not be much for you to learn. We will also provide you with your costume and props.

We will be filming some of your scenes off site in a house, but we will provide you with transport to and from the location.

Thank you for taking time to read this letter. We would be grateful if you would let us know if you are happy to take part in this production on the date above, and if so, what time would be convenient to you.

Yours sincerely

Tower House Productions
(George Pratt,  Brendon Van Rensburg: A2 Media Group)

PLOT OUTLINE

LAST POST

Sam Mumford belongs to a military family. His father had a successful army career and has missed it since he retired. His mother was an army nurse, and his older brother, Scott, has also recently joined up after a lot of pressure from his father.

Sam has just received his A Level results, and has decided to spend a year travelling with his best friend while he decides what he wants to do. He is sure that he does not want to join the army, which is causing a lot of tension with his father. His brother secretly encourages him to escape and wishes that he had been brave enough to do the same. Mrs Mumford is also happy for her sons to follow different careers, but is scared of her husband.

While Sam is away, news comes that Scott has been killed in battle. He comes home for the funeral but plans to rejoin his friend and new girlfriend immediately afterwards. His father is determined that he should now pursue an army career to fill Scott’s shoes.

Mrs Mumford blames her husband and feels she has lost both children because of him. In a furious argument on the way to the funeral, the car crashes and Mrs Mumford is paralysed.

Sam blames his father for the accident. His father cannot accept his responsibility and tells Sam that he wishes he had died instead as he would be better off alone. The two confront each other at a military training ground and there is the sound of a gun shot…

Research into Magazine Cover Text - Brendon

Magazine Language 

Total Film magazine

·         10 coolest movies being made right now

·         On set cracking the case of the world’s greatest detective

·         Ultimate summer review

·         From Batman to Star wars : the 50 must see movies for summer

·         Grab your golden ticket

·         Confessions of a superhero

·         First looks (spider man)

·         Heads up our Massive preview

·         The modern guide to movies

Empire Magazine

·         Review of the year

·         Essential 2011 preview

·         First look

·         Massive Oscars special

·         3D event of the year

·         Bond is Back, Inside the bloodiest bond yet

·         Sneak Preview

·         25 world exclusives

·         Limited edition, 3 Covers to collect!

FHM

·         100 sexiest woman in the world (2012 edition)

·         Fitness special

·         Woman of the world

·         Meltdown the hottest new girls in Hollywood

·         Black magic woman

·         Motor mayhem

·         50 mistakes you have made with a woman
 

 

Having looked at text on both film and other magazines, it is clear that there are common features:

- short and snappy
- exaggerated language
- make reader feel special